Within three minutes, both Justin Braun and Sacha Kljestan put the ball in the back of the net. The Kansas City Wizards failed to create any response as the Goats cruised to a playoff berth.

Chivas USA
came into this game with every chance of making a real impact on the
race to the Supporter’s Shield. The Goats now sit atop the Western
Conference with 44 points and a game in hand against perennial power
Houston Dynamo and their local rivals LA Galaxy.

KC played without veteran center
back Jimmy Conrad, as he is away with the National Team, and it showed
as Chivas exploited the hole in their defense. After this loss,
Kansas City is not officially eliminated from the playoff hunt, but
any chance of making the post-season requires them winning out and having
every other result go their way.

First Half

The early going at the HDC
saw Chivas control the possession with KC getting the occasional counter. The first dangerous build up came in the 15th minute as Josh Wolff played
a long ball down off his chest to Kei Kamara. Kamara feinted a
shot and laid it off to Graham Zusi, but Yamith Cuesta dove in to stop
the shot.

The Wiz followed that up in
the 18th minute as Cuesta sent a soft back pass to Zach Thornton. Zusi won the race and tried to play in Kamara, but Claudio Suarez intercepted
and deflected the ball back to Zusi, who couldn’t keep his shot on
goal.

After ten minutes of KC control,
Chivas reasserted their dominance. Sacha Kljestan showed his passing
ability in the 23rd minute as he played Maykel Galindo in on goal. Galindo took his shot from the top of the box, but Josh Hartman denied
him the upper right corner with a fingertip save.

The Goats continued to find
space behind the KC defense, but it was the KC counterattack that created
the best opportunities as Claudio Lopez nearly broke down the left wing
and Kamara knocked a good chance well wide.

Kljestan created another chance
for Justin Braun in the 44th minute, but rather than playing the ball
back across to a teammate, Braun curled his shot high of the far upper
right of the goal.

Second Half

Preki decided to change things
up in the second half as he brought on Jesse Marsch and Marian Trujillo
for Claudio Suarez and Jesus Padilla, respectively, but it was KC that
threatened as Davy Arnaud tried his luck from long range. Preki
was clearly not happy, as he made his third substitution in the 50th
minute replacing Michael Lahoud with Eduardo Lillingston.

After ten minutes of play around
the middle of the park by Chivas, a turnover led to a wonderful strike
from Claudio Lopez. Lopez sent the ball out wide left to Davy
Arnaud. The ball came back across to the Argentine twenty five
yards out from goal. His first touch popped the ball straight
up in the air and his ensuing volley curled over Zach Thornton, striking
the cross bar and going out for a goal kick. Zach Thornton landed
awkwardly on his back, but stayed in the game.

Chivas nearly struck in the
65th minute after hard work from Maykel Galindo on the right wing ended
with Kljestan firing a strong shot for the bottom right of the goal. Kljestan floated in from the left wing and it took every inch of Kevin
Hartman to keep his shot out.

Chivas continued to pile on
the pressure and it finally paid off in the 71st minute. Kljestan
earned a free kick and fired it towards the far upper corner.
Hartman did all he could to knock the ball down, but Yamith Cuesta was
on hand to collect the ball and pass it back into the six yard box where
Justin Braun hammered the ball into the top of the net over the helpless
Hartman.

It only took Sacha Kljestan
three minutes to double the Goats’ lead. Carey Talley played
a long ball down the right wing to Eduard Lillingston. Lillingston
collected and played the ball back to Kljestan, who was trailing the
play. Kljestan feinted a shot, and cut through the KC defense,
before sliding the ball through Kevin Hartman’s legs.

Thornton’s back problems
and Preki’s dramatic substitutions might have had an effect on the
game, but the hard working Wizards only managed one goal scoring opportunity
and never even tested the clearly injured goalkeeper in the last fifteen
minutes. That chance came in the 88th minute as Kei Kamara ran
onto a ball over the top. He played the ball across the box where
substitute Zoltan Hercegfalvi played a nice dummy, leaving it to fellow
substitute Chance Myers. However, Myers only tested the side netting. Goal.com